Factors Influencing Early Sexual Practices Among Secondary Schools Teenagers In Nakaseke District

Abstract

Back ground: The rising occurrence of teens‟ early sexual practice is one of the most alarming public health concerns, worldwide. Regardless of the proclamation of the jeopardy of early sex, students increasingly pick interest in sexual practice at a very early age than ever before. However, its magnitude in Nakaseke district is not known and it is crucial that we fathom the various potential factors that are associated with early sexual practice, targeting effective prevention interventions and policies to encourage postponing of sexual debut until marriage in order to improve the reproductive health of the teenagers. Objective: To determine the factors that influence early sexual practice among secondary school teenagers in Nakaseke District, Uganda. Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted and 391 secondary school students (13-19) years old were recruited from 4 secondary schools in Nakaseke district by a random sampling. Data was collected by use of structured questionnaire and focus group discussions, analysed by Graphical tests Prism 6.0. Chi-square tests were used to determine the relationship between demographic factors, social-economic factors, and environmental factors influencing early sexual practices. For all statistical tests, p value less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: Almost half (47%) of the respondents had experienced intercourse before the age of 18 years, 38% started sex as early as before 13 years, 89.1% had sex willingly, 46.2% had multiple sexual partners. The findings also showed that sex (χ 2 =27.45, p-value of <0.001), religion (χ 2 =37.31, p-value of 0.001), class (χ 2 =15.22, p-value of 0.001), parental formal education (χ 2 =8.377, p-value of 0.015), fasting (χ 2 =99.37, p-value of 0.001) and cultural beliefs (χ 2 = 14.33, p-value of 0.001).Among the social economic factors, father‟s sexual education (χ 2 =8.704,3, p value 0.03 accessibility of information on media (χ 2 =12.42, p-value of 0.002), different sources of information on sexual issues (χ 2 =28.62, p-value of 0.001), parental employment (χ 2 =21.94, p-value of 0.001), (χ 2 =124.1, p-value of 0.001), number of girl/ boyfriends (χ 2 = 15.98,1, p- value of 0.001), pressure for sex (χ 2 = 15.98, p-value of 0.001), peer influence (χ 2 =87.99, p-value of 0.001), lack of negotiation skills (χ 2 =203.2, p- value of 0.001), substance use (χ 2 =19.79, p-value of 0.001, attending night club ( χ 2 =38.73 p- value of 0.001), and sex for goods (χ 2 =116.4, p-value of 0.001) were significantly associated with sexual practice among the respondents. Conclusion and recommendation: Due to the high prevalence of early sexual practices as early as before 13 years of age, there is need for re enforcement of policies about adolescents, raise awareness to the public about the dangers of early sexual practices and address youths about sexual and reproductive health. In addition, the church in partnership with other organisations can actively emphasize the “NO SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE” message.